>>11450658
>>11450658
Need A Polling Place With Social Distancing? 3 NBA Teams Offer Venues
July 2, 20208:20 PM ET
Teams in the National Basketball Association, the American pro sports league long most vocal on social justice issues, are stepping up their civic participation, as three have now volunteered their facilities to serve as voting sites amid the pandemic.
The development comes as local election officials, especially those in major metropolitan areas, frantically search for places that are centrally located and big enough to allow voters to social distance while waiting in line and casting their ballots.
And the offers come as many of the NBA's mostly African-American players have upped their involvement in social causes following the killing of George Floyd in Minneapolis police custody. Last month, for instance, superstar LeBron James announced a new organization aimed at protecting Black citizens' voting rights.
The group, More Than A Vote, has praised the NBA franchises volunteering their spaces, while also egging on others with a hoops-like challenge: "Who's got next?"
"The easiest way to keep us from changing anything is to keep us from voting," James tweeted last month, along with a Black Lives Matter hashtag.
The three teams that have so far offered their spaces , the Atlanta Hawks, the Detroit Pistons and the Milwaukee Bucks , are located in presidential battleground states. More than a third of the league's teams are in states that could help determine the presidential contest this fall.
Dems NBA and BLM set up these mega voting centers